‘No consent’: Third nationwide No Kings protest draws thousands across Alaska

Published 8:42 am Monday, March 30, 2026

Alaskans across the state came out to protest on March 28 as part of the third No Kings nationwide day of action against the Trump administration. Crowds braved icy weather to demonstrate with signs, songs and speeches to condemn President Donald Trump and foreign wars, and called for protections of equal rights and democracy.

In Juneau, a large crowd gathered at Overstreet Park by the iconic whale statue, under winter sunshine to protest.

“No Kings, No Consent is a peaceful day of mass mobilization in response to this regime’s brutality and their attempts to control us,” said Gina Chalcroft, an organizer with Juneau Indivisible, to cheers from the crowd. “We join with, that we know of, 25 other Alaskan No Kings rallies today, because we know that we can overcome this repression when we unite, because there is power in community.”

The crowd yelled “no consent!” in a call and response style, including to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement patrolling American cities, separating families and killing protesters; Congress cutting health care benefits, and the US invading Venezuela and bombing Iran.

Many signs in the crowd condemned the Iran war, including from veterans, reading “I served for freedom, not fascism” and “war leads to more war, more death, more suffering.”

Heidi Drygas, executive director of the Alaska State Employees Association AFSCME Local 52, the largest public employees union in Alaska, addressed the crowd and urged worker unity. She said rising costs and cuts to social services are pushing Alaskans to the brink.

“Right now, it’s not just the poor and underprivileged who are struggling. Our middle class is vanishing before our very eyes,” Drygas said. “In times like these, silence is not an option. Billionaires are driving up the cost of living for working families, then they go cash in their massive tax breaks at our expense,” she said.

Drygas pointed to cuts in public assistance programs like Medicaid and Medicare as undermining working families, as well as the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.

“ICE’s efforts are a direct attack on workers’ fundamental freedoms to work with dignity, to raise our families without the threat of violence from our government and safely return home to our loved ones at the end of a working day,” she said.

Speakers condemned the Alaska Division of Elections for sharing a detailed list of Alaskans voter information with the U.S. Department of Justice. At the event, volunteers staffed a voter registration table for attendees to register to vote or check their information.

Juneau resident Dune Rothman said he volunteered to support voter registration at each of the No Kings events.

“I’ve been doing voter registration, non-partisan, for about 40 years, on and off,” he said. “I think it’s really critical now that everybody is checking on their voter registration regularly to make sure that nothing untoward has happened.”

Rothman said he was forced into early retirement last year from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration due to the Trump administration’s mass firings with DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency. Now he spends his time on volunteer work.

“It’s really important that all of the citizens now really stand forward and do their civic duty in the country,” he said.

More than 3,000 No Kings protest events were planned on Saturday nationwide. Social media posts and an online map of events show No Kings rallies in at least 25 communities across Alaska from Kotzebue to Bethel, to Seldovia to Ketchikan. Several participants spoke with the Alaska Beacon after events wrapped on Saturday afternoon.

Nicole Collins is a member of Ketchikan Mayday for Democracy which holds monthly protests and events to protect democracy and raise awareness around local issues in the community. In Ketchikan, she said roughly 250 people of all ages participated in a rally and march, followed by a tailgate party, food donation and voter registration drives.

“Today seemed different than any other times that we’ve been out here. It felt a little more subdued,” she said, and people shared concerns about the Iran war.

“We were promised no new wars,” she said. “We’re putting our troops in danger, and we’re not really sure why, and that there’s a lot of distrust in this administration…. So there’s just a lot of confusion and concern, really just for our country.”

On the Kenai Peninsula, Michele Vasquez, an organizer with the non-partisan community group Many Voices, said it was the largest turnout in Soldotna she’s seen yet, with roughly 400 participants.

“The folks that are protesting today, it is from the far left to the right. I mean, there is no set political spectrum here,” she said. “These are people from all backgrounds.”

She said in the wake of ICE arrests of a family and immediate deportation to Mexico, many protest signs and speakers focused on the Trump administration’s overreach and abuse of power. She said local organizing efforts are also focused on “know your rights” training, outreach and support to local immigrant families.

“I’m just personally overwhelmed by my community and the love and care that each of them have for their country, and want to see it get back on track,” she said.

In Matanuska Susitna Borough community of Wasilla, Dave Musgrave, an organizer with Mat Su United for Progress said approximately 650 people came out to protest on Saturday. He said the event was uncertain due to strong winds throughout the region this week, but people turned out.

“The vibe was upbeat. Everybody was happy to be together,” he said. “We continually have new people show up, and they are so appreciative that, especially here in a very conservative part of the state, they are so appreciative that they found some community that they can connect with that shares their values.”

Musgrave said demonstrators shared concerns about rising prices for daily necessities, tariffs, and U.S. wars abroad. He said while usually there has been a small group of pro-Trump counter protesters at past No Kings events, they didn’t show up on March 28.

“I’ve always told them they are welcome to be here, that they had their First Amendment rights also, and they’ve always understood it. And we’ve always gotten along pretty well,” he said. “But they weren’t even here today for whatever reason.”

Organizers said protests are ongoing, and they are focused on resisting the Trump administration, and mobilizing voters to win Democratic seats and flip the U.S. Congress to a Democratic majority at the midterm elections in November.

This article originally appeared online at alaskabeacon.com. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.

Corinne Smith started reporting in Alaska in 2020, serving as a radio reporter for several local stations across the state including in Petersburg, Haines, Homer and Dillingham. She spent two summers covering the Bristol Bay fishing season. Originally from Oakland, California, she got her start as a reporter, then morning show producer, at KPFA Radio in Berkeley. She completed a master’s degree focused on investigative journalism in 2024 at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in Los Angeles. She is thrilled to be back in Alaska and based in Juneau, covering education and social and criminal justice.